Erica Verrillo has written seven books and published five. She doesn't know why anyone with an ounce of self-preservation would ever want to publish. But, if you insist on selling your soul to the devil, learn how to do it right: marketing, literary agents, book promotion, editing, pitching your book, how to get reviews, and ... most important of all ... everything she did wrong.
In the interests of protecting the right to free speech, she did not vote for Trump.
#NotMyPresident

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

247 Hashtags for Writers

If you are on Twitter and aren't using hashtags, you are wasting a great resource.

Hashtags (#) are a way of grouping posts on similar topics. They can be used to track trends and topical news, such as the hilarious #myozobituary posts that abounded after a national Australian newspaper opened their obituary of famed author and neurophysiologist Colleen McCullough with the words: "Plain of face and certainly overweight, she was nevertheless of woman of wit and warmth." (If you can't see anything wrong with this description of the person who wrote The Thorn Birds - and 23 other novels - then I suggest you search twitter for #everydaysexism.)

Hashtags can also be used to search for specific information and topics, which brings me to why you need to employ hashtags that are already in use. If you want to reach a broad audience, you really don't want to make up a hashtag. (I confess to having done that. Apparently, #voodoomedicine is some kind of rock group.)

Utilizing hashtags that already have a following means you have a built-in set of people looking for you. And, with the millions of people tweeting day and night, it is better to have people actually seeking your posts, than to hope that they will somehow find you in the din.

That being said, there are some rules you should follow for using hashtags:

Don't use more than three hashtags per tweet.

Don't #hashtag #several #words in a row in the body of your tweet.

Do not simply tweet invitations to read your book over and over again. You're a writer! Tweet something that is fun, interesting, informative, controversial, creative, and above all cool.

Before you use a hashtag, search Twitter to make sure it is appropriate for your tweet.

#BYNR - Book Your Next Read. "Avid-Reader and keen supporter of Indie-Authors. Here to spread the good word about great Books. Please include the hashtag #BYNR We #followback & #RT." Twitter @BookYrNextRead. Facebook.

#1K1H or #1K1HR (write
one thousand words in one hour)
#1LineWednesday - Share the best line from one of your books on Wednesdays

#amediting - posts from people who are editing

#amwriting - posts from people who are writing

#AmRevising - posts from people who are revising

#AuthorLife – writers sharing random stuff
#ASMSG - Authors Social Media Support Group - "We support each other’s event promotions, share experiences and triumphs, and learn from each other’s various experiences and knowledge." @ASMSG1

#CopyWriting – advice about copywriting

#EditGoal

#Editing

#IndieAuthors

#nanowrimo - national novel writing month

#WordCount

#wip - work in progress

#WriteGoodNews

#Writer

#Writers

#WritersBlock

#WriteChat – all sorts of advice and information

#WriteGoal

#WriterWednesday (or #WW or ##WW) – a way to give a shout-out
to writers / suggest authors to follow, or to share writing tips, and anything
else to do with writers or writing

#followfriday or #ff - used on Friday to suggest people to
follow to your followers. (Don’t just tweet handles, tell them why they should follow.)

#novels

#novelists

#poem

#poet

#poets#twitterfiction - where you can tweet your latest story 140 characters at a time

____________________

Publishing Industry

#AskAgent

#AskAuthor

#AskEditor

#BookMarketing

#EBooks or #ebook

#ePub

#ePublishing

#GetPublished

#HowTo

#IAN or #IAN1 (Independent Author Networking)

#Indie

#IndieAuthor

#IndiePub (or #IndiePublishing)
#MSWL - manuscript wish list. This is where agents post what they are looking for,

#PromoTip

#Publishing

#Pubtip

#PubWrite

#querytip

#SelfPub

#SelfPublishing

#tenqueries – agents share the reasons why they do or do not
request manuscripts

#VSS (very short story)

#WebFic

#WebLit

#WriteTip
#WLCAuthor -The World Literary Café is a promotional website for authors. Similar to the Independent Author Network (#IAN), Indie authors who join these organizations help each other in their promotions.

#wclw - The WordCount Last Wednesday writer chat covers freelancing, blogging and writing basics. As the name implies, it takes place the last Wednesday of every month. @michellerafterWednesday, 10:00 - 11:00 AM PTmichellerafter.com